VIDEO: Sharp Actions to Take Place as Situation in Armenian Football Escalates

The Armenian Football Federation has largely failed the football development strategy for 2019-2025. This was announced today at a press conference by Yervand Ismailyan, a member of the FAF (First Armenian Front) fan club.

"This team has set unrealistic goals and has not met its objectives. The strategy adopted in 2019 was a strategy for golden mountains, while the reality is completely different," he stated.

According to the strategy, the plan was to increase the number of people engaged in mass and amateur football to 80,000. Ismailyan cited that previously, football fans would gather every Sunday and play 11v11 football, which was affordable and accessible, but today there are only a few sports fields that can be rented for a few hours for over 100,000 drams, making this enjoyment of football unaffordable for many.

The strategy particularly mentioned that by 2025, the national team should ensure participation in the final stages of the World or European Championships. Unfortunately, Ismailyan noted, the national team’s performance today is far from that goal.

There are also issues related to fair or fixed matches in the Armenian league that have not been resolved. "There are many circulating rumors, and those who somewhat follow local games will say the same. This stems from the fact that both the Federation and the football community did not respond appropriately to problems that arose in due time, leaving the issues unresolved," Ismailyan said.

The development program for youth football has also failed. "Youth football should have developed evenly throughout the country, while today a situation has been created where children in certain communities have no opportunity to engage in football at all," he pointed out.

By 2025, there was supposed to be 300 small fields with artificial grass installed throughout the regions of Armenia for mass and amateur football. Ismailyan emphasizes that this point has been implemented at less than 50%, as the current number of such fields stands at 129.